PH coronavirus death toll tops 10,000 as 64 more die

MANILA, Philippines — The new coronavirus has now killed more than 10,000 in the Philippines, as the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported 64 new fatalities.

To be exact, 10,042 patients already succumbed to COVID-19, the respiratory ailment caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as of January 20, according to DOH.

The health agency also said it logged 1,862 additional cases of COVID-19, driving the nationwide total to 505,939. This includes 28,904 active cases, in which the majority or 84.9% have mild symptoms while 7.5% are asymptomatic, 2.6% have severe symptoms and 4.5% are in critical condition.

DOH likewise reported that 765 more were able to recover from COVID-19, bringing to 466,993 the total recovered patients in the country.

Zamboanga City registered the most number of new coronavirus infections with 206 cases, followed by Davao City (109), Kalinga (102), Quezon City (77), and Benguet (74), according to DOH.

Meanwhile, DOH’s data has been adjusted anew to reflect the removal of seven duplicates, which were initially labeled as recovered cases, as 14 cases previously tagged as recoveries have now been reclassified as deaths.

DOH further said two laboratories were not able to submit their data on January 19.

KGA